Calamity
by Navi Haise
Summary: Carla didn't anticipate being related to an infamous multibillionaire inventor, nor did she expect to be able to move things with her mind... And that was only the tip of the iceberg. SI.
1. Stark

My life before _The Avengers _was just ordinary. I was a bit of a geek who loved animals and was going to study to become a veterinarian in college, and I had just graduated highschool with a 4.3 GPA.

I was out on a morning run in the neighborhood, when I noticed a little girl run out into the street up ahead.

I ran after her just as a truck came around the corner, and I pushed her out of the way before the big impact.

I died at 18, and was completely unaware of that life during my second chance.

I never imagined I would actually get my memories back, and was fairly freaked out when it happened.

I would've preferred _Supernatural _or something, but okay then.

* * *

When I was younger, about nine or ten years old, I didn't really pay much attention to the world around me. My mother really couldn't afford to, either.

For as long as I could remember, my single mother raised me in a small, cramped apartment in a neighborhood that had many people in the same state as we were. I was too little to really understand how in need we were of money. We could barely afford rent, so for the most part we didn't watch a lot of television.

My mother was pretty and kind - she was just my entire world. She had brown hair and eyes just as I did. She had light skin that seemed to glow. But one thing we both seemed to have in common was our sarcastic nature.

We were at an old fashioned cafe when I saw a familiar face on the TV screen, mindlessly sipping on my orange juice. The caption read "Tony Stark Saves the Day Yet Again." The screen showed a robotic figure flying in the sky. I choked on my juice, citric acid burning my throat and nose.

My mother rose an eyebrow, "You okay, Carla?"

I nodded, a bit embarrassed. I wiped my face with the sleeve of my shirt, my mother's face irritated at my action. I pointed to the TV that was hung in the upper corner of the restaurant behind her head. She turned her head and looked, expression hidden from my sight.

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Who's that? He seems familiar. His last name is Stark."

She turned back around, her expression unreadable.

She sighed, "No one you should worry about. It's just a coincidence."

I shrugged and continued to finish my eggs and soggy pancakes.

Another year or so went by, and my mother and I finally decided to visit the city and go shopping in celebration of her new, well-paying job. I was eleven years old at the time. The New York buildings and skyscrapers were so huge, and my young self looked up at them in amazement from the taxi cab window.

My mother beside me grinned, "It's amazing, isn't it? I never thought I'd miss this, but now I can definitely see the appeal."

The cab stopped at a red light, and a swarm of people crossed the street, many of which were neatly dressed for work.

I looked up to see a skyscraper that had _Stark _in giant letters on it.

I pointed, "Look mom, it's our name."

She smiled, giving me a suspicious look, "Sure is, and that's where we're going."

I looked at her in confusion, "What for?"

Right before she could answer, a huge beam of light descended from the sky and ended at the top of the _Stark_ Tower. The street light turned green, but none of the cars or people moved. All bystanders looked up at the sky in bewilderment.

Dark figures started floating from the sky, and I squinted to see what they were. Beams of light shot from some of the figures as they got closer, destroying everything in their path. People started screaming, leaving their cars and running down the middle of the street and away from the chaos. Explosions up ahead of the traffic caused dust and debris to fly everywhere.

I gasped in horror as some figures started falling from the sky and landing on cars, chasing after people around us. These figures were grotesque and had a reptilian, yet humanoid look to them. My mother horrifically watched as destruction occurred around us.

I turned to her, my body trembling, "Are those… aliens?"

By this time, our cab driver had opened the door and sprinted the opposite direction, only to get shot by one of the monsters. My mother quickly grabbed me by the shoulder and shoved me down to the floor of the car.

She whispered, her forehead perspiring, "None of them have seen us yet, we need to hide here and wait for help. Just stay still and quiet. If we need to go, I'll tell you and we need to run. Do you understand me?"

I quickly nodded, my heart beating faster in my chest.

We sat cramped up on the floor of the car as we listened to huge explosions, screams of terror, police sirens, and many gun shots in the distance. My mother got out her phone and started making a call, and I anxiously started to bite my lip.

Her fingers quickly typed in a number, and she let it quietly ring against her ear as we waited in anticipation. The call went through, and she paused for a moment before looking slightly relieved.

She spoke, "Tony, it's me, your sister….. No, that's not what I'm calling about. Me and Carla are currently hiding in a taxi that's stopped in the middle of the main street that heads toward the Stark Tower."

Another pause, and she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "To be fair, I got over myself and came to see you and introduce you to your niece. There, you happy?"

I dumbfoundedly stared at her, "I have an uncle? Tony…. As in Tony Stark? So that wasn't a coincidence? Iron Man is my uncle… what-"

My mother put a finger against her lips to hush me, "I know."

I rolled my eyes.

She went back to the phone, "Sorry, but yeah we're in mortal danger and need help, or something. Or just get Carla out of here if you can."

I looked out the window behind her and saw more explosions in the sky. I shuddered.

"Thanks, Tony. I know. Don't die or do anything stupid. Bye." She turned off her phone and sighed.

"Now, we wait."

I looked at her in worry, "What's happening?"

She pressed her lips, "He's sending one of the avengers over to come get us, but I don't know who."

The door behind me suddenly opened and I let out a loud scream. I snapped my head around only to see a man dressed in a blue outfit and a woman with red hair. It was Captain America and Black Widow. My mother cackled at my demise.

My face heated with embarrassment, "My bad."

I got up and out from the car as the man looked back at my mother in curiosity, "Miss Stark?"

My mother got out and sighed, "Just call me Morgan."

"Natasha," the woman replied.

The redhead turned to the man with a shield, "So what's the plan, Steve?"

* * *

My mother was driving a black prius away from the tower as Steve and Natasha rode on a motorcycle behind us, taking out any enemies along the way. I was in the passenger seat tightly gripping my seatbelt in fear as one of the reptilians held on to the top of the car.

Steve threw his shield at the offender and it painfully screeched as it rolled off into the street. I sighed in relief.

The plan was to drive as far out into the city to be safe enough to escape on our own, which was a difficult task already.

More monsters were released from the sky and the two avengers got their hands full with many of them as we drove off. A flying alien aimed at us as I yelled out in alarm.

My mother held the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles turned white, "I know! We have no choice but to keep going!"

The alien fired, a small force of an explosion hit the back of the car and my mother swerved as my stomach dropped. My whole body lurched forward and I closed my eyes in fear. The car stopped as it hit a light pole.

My mother quickly took off her seatbelt and reached over to take off mine, "Get out of the car as soon as I'm out and running. You need to run and go into any nearby building, alleyway, I don't care."

I stared at her in disbelief, "I can't, you'll die."

She shook her head, "I'm doing this, and if I do this in vain and you end up dead, I'll never forgive myself."

My eyes teared up, "Mom-"

She smiled reassuringly and opened the door before going out into a sprint towards the city, screaming and attracting attention from the alien that wrecked our vehicle. I ran out of the car and headed towards an adjacent, empty deli shop on the corner of the street.

I stopped and stared at the entrance, tears running down my face. I couldn't do it. I couldn't leave her to die. I turned around and started running where my mother ran off to.

There was a lot of people running and screaming, and I looked around and tried to find my mother, and there was an alien here and there that terrorized people as I ran towards the chaos.

As I ran down the street, fighting against the swarm of people, I tripped on something and felt on my hands and knees. I hissed in pain and looked back at what had caused my fall, and I froze. I got up on my knees and morbidly looked at the body.

There was so much blood around the body, and a huge hole that went through the abdomen of the corpse bled out into the concrete. The body was on its stomach, but I recognized it with horror. I grabbed their shoulder and turned the body over, to see my mother's face. Her soulless eyes stared into nothing, and her lips were slightly parted.

I gaped in terror and fell back from my knees onto the ground, and my chest tightened. My breath staggered and got shallower and everything seemed to fade in and out of focus. My vision turned black and my body weakened as I went unconscious.

During this time, I hadn't realized the monsters collapsed on the ground and died as the avengers had succeeded in defeating Loki and his reign of terror.

* * *

My eyelids felt heavy as I opened my eyes to see a white ceiling. I slightly moaned in pain as my body felt entirely sore and sat up. I was in a hospital room that looked out into the city from the window.

"Hey there."

I jumped a little and snapped my attention to the right side of my bed, and in the flesh was Tony Stark, sitting in a chair.

I blinked stupidly, "Hey…. Where's my mom?"

He frowned deeply, his tired eyes tearing up. I furrowed my eyebrows. I finally noticed that his brown eyes were red and his hair was a bit of a mess like he hadn't showered in a couple days.

He raised his hand to cover his mouth and looked at the floor in guilt, "I'm sorry."

I shook my head, "No…"

_Her soulless eyes stared into nothing. _

My hands clenched the white cotton sheets, my eyes stung and a wetness started to trail down my cheeks. My breath started to shudder.

I covered my face with my hands and loudly sobbed.

A few days later, I was placed to live with my uncle, who was pretty much my only family at this point. We moved to California soon after that and brought my mother along to have her buried over there.

It was a small, private funeral that only had me, Tony, his girlfriend Pepper, and his bodyguard Happy. That was just about it. I wore a simple black dress with black flats, my brown hair tied into a bun.

Tony had unshed tears in his eyes, Happy was bawling his eyes out, and Pepper had a solemn gaze. My eyes were red and itchy, and I cried so much for a week that I just couldn't do it anymore.

The skies were dark and grey today, leaving a cold chill in the air.

It was after the small ceremony and the actual burial that I actually talked to him since the hospital.

Tony was wearing a traditional black dress suit, his chest glowing with a blue light. I tilted my head up at him, "Mr. Stark?"

His guilty gaze looked back to me, "You can call me Tony."

I smiled, despite how depressed I felt, "Tony. I never got to meet you before this, and I barely know anything, but I like to think that my mother is at peace and doesn't blame you at all. I don't blame you or anyone, either."

He looked at me in surprise. I crouched down and traced the engraving on her grave.

"Thank you. I'm sure she's proud of you, too."

The sun peeked through the clouds, and it was almost comforting.

I pointed to the sky, "I guess it's not going to rain, after all. That would've been depressing."

The corners of his mouth slightly curved up into a smile.

* * *

**Hey, it's been awhile. I got caught up with finals and a lot of things at once but now I have more time to do things. The first chapter is pretty short aha.**

**This whole thing is gonna be pretty canon but new things and people will be added and certain things may be taken out. **

**And as far as Endgame goes, if I get to that point the story will obviously continue on after that as there's a lot more I'd like to do and add. **

**Love, Navi **


	2. The New West

It had been over 4 years since Tony started keeping in touch with his younger sister. Not that Tony could necessarily blame her, but he was still disappointed when Morgan didn't even show up to their parents' funeral.

He remembered a distraught, short-haired girl storming out of the Stark family home when he was about twenty-three years old. Morgan was nineteen, just a young adult who had yet to fully experience the real world.

Their mother always did her best to support them, but it wasn't enough for Morgan. Tony and Morgan were alike, yet distinct. They were born as natural geniuses, and as reluctant as he was to admit it, Morgan was truly the sharpest of the whole family. Tony believed in furthering science and technology to aid the U.S. in its arms race, just like their father did. On the other hand, Morgan opposed using violence as protection and was a full-blown pacifist.

As the scholar of the family, Howard Stark had the ambition to pass down his legacy to Morgan. Although he was a bit jealous, Tony couldn't have been happier for her. Morgan gracefully declined. Their father became a bit concerned and irritated with Morgan.

With all the money they had, their parents didn't mind buying their children's love when needed. It was just a norm for the Stark children to borrow money, and it was an expectation that their parents' fame and fortune would soon fall onto them. With this in mind, Morgan asked Howard to pay for her tuition that didn't involve aiding the Stark family business.

Howard Stark was fairly disappointed. He offered to do it on one condition; Morgan was to advocate for military funding at the Stark convention. She refused to do that, as well. The stubborn sibling just wanted to do as she pleased so she could alter her adult life from military weapons and war. Neither of the siblings couldn't really qualify for top university scholarships because they were rich, and her father refused to pay for her education. Morgan just wanted to explore the medical field and find ways to _help _people in need instead of blowing them up with high-tech bombs.

The arguments between Morgan and Howard soon escalated into screaming episodes, and they became more and more distant with time. Their mother pretended the fights never happened and tried talking to Morgan about being more considerate for Howard, which made Morgan feel even more betrayed.

Tony remembered when he tried to convince his sister to not leave on her own. During that time their parents were at a press conference, leaving them alone in the mansion. He heard a bit of shuffling downstairs and went to figure out what was going on and saw some luggage by the front door. Morgan was walking towards the door shortly after, wearing a backpack and dragging another suitcase.

He stopped her at the door, wearing a solemn expression. She had looked back at him, her eyes and nose were a bit red from the evidence of crying. He had asked her what she was doing, and she gave him a look of guilt.

"I'm leaving for Ohio. I have a friend there from boarding school who's willing to help me settle there."

Tony blinked stupidly at her, "What do you mean, you're… actually leaving? Why?"

She had frowned at him, "I'm trapped here. I can't do what I want to do. I have no job, I have no resume, I have no extracurriculars from boarding school. I have _nothing _besides a 4.7 GPA with a majority of AP and honors classes. I'm not even that well known by celebrity standards. It's harder to get accepted into a good school or job without a solid history of experience and social skills these days. I managed to somehow get accepted into NYU, but I can't even afford that without the money."

Tony looked at her in remorse.

She continued with her voice shaking, "I'm trapped here by family obligation. I'm trapped here by money. I can't do what I want to do, and you know that I hate where our money comes from. Our money comes from bloodshed, Tony."

He shook his head, "Morgan, our money comes from protecting our country and stopping war criminals. It's blood that is needed. Even so, you can probably sort something out with Dad. Some sort of compromise. Anything."

Morgan looked at him with slight disgust and disappointment, "I tried, Tony. It's not as grey as you think it is. It's black and white in this case. I can't go against my personal morals about this and pretend to oppose it when I'd just be a huge hypocrite."

"Morgan…"

She smiled, "I'll be fine. Dad will be pissed, but he'll get over it. I have my plane ticket and about five-grand cash on me." She stepped forward patted Tony's shoulder.

Tony looked at her in loss but in understanding of her choice. Morgan grinned up at him, her dark hair barely brushing her shoulders. She retracted her hand and turned around, picked up her bags, and opened the door.

Before leaving, she turned her head at him, her eyes watering, "See ya later, Stockholm Syndrome."

Tony rose an eyebrow, "Bye, Rapunzel."

Morgan finally left and closed the door, and Tony frowned deeply at the empty spot where she previously stood.

Morgan had left her whole life behind her on that day.

The next time he ever spoke to her was the first time in over a decade. It was right after he survived Afghanistan and announced that he was going to stop the production of war commodities that Morgan actually bothered to contact him.

It had been so long that he almost forgot that his sister was just as good, if not better than he was at technology and hacking into things. Tony was in his private jet from New York when he received an unknown call number and answered it, "Hello?"

_"Tony? It's me, Morgan."_

The playboy choked on his scotch and quickly recovered. Pepper looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Morgan? It's been a good… I don't know, a decade? I don't know whether to be happy or insanely pissed at you right now."

A laugh resounded from the phone, _"Then be happy. Look, I'm gonna tell you a really long and sappy speech and also update you on my life. Sooo..." _

Tony sighed, "It's fine, talk all you want and catch me up on over ten years. That's totally normal."

_"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm really happy you're alive. I'm also really proud that you made a huge decision with the company. I'm sorry for not talking to you ever since I left, and changing my last name, and cutting all ties to the family. I'm sorry for not making it to the funeral. I just got a lot on my plate."_

Tony smiled, "Next time, we're gonna see each other in person. You can make up all that missed time by baking me your famous sugar cookies."

Morgan chuckled through the phone, _"Alright, I guess I'll have to make four dozen for my best customer… In serious matters, there's a big reason why I haven't spoken to you in a long time. Mostly because I felt kind of ashamed, and worried that Howard would judge me for it."_

Tony's dark eyebrows furrowed in concern, "What big reason?"

_"I got knocked up and now I have a daughter. She's seven. Her name's Carla." _

His eyebrows shot up, and he looked up at Pepper in surprise. She mouthed, _"Your sister?"_

Tony nodded, expression blank. He hadn't realized how long he was silent until Morgan interrupted his thoughts.

_"Uh, Tony? Are you there?"_

"Yeah! Yeah. You're serious, right?"

He could almost feel her roll her eyes through the phone, _"As serious as I can be. I'm now a single mother who works as a nurse in New York. Pretty inspiring, yes?" _

He sighed, "I can't believe you right now. If you don't mind me asking…" Tony stopped himself and shook his head.

"Nevermind."

_"You're wondering where the father is, aren't you?"_

"You got me."

_"Well, long story short, he came from England, and we dated for about two years. His father didn't approve and forbade him from being with me. I got pregnant and never told the guy."_

Tony frowned, "I'm sorry to hear that."

_"Don't be. Give or take eight years and I'm not even fazed about it at this point. It's life."_

Another call rang through his phone and Tony rolled his eyes, "Morgan, I've got another person on call. Can we catch up later?"

_"Yeah, that's fine! I'll talk to you later. Bye."_

"Bye," Tony ended the call.

They caught up through the phone after that, and Morgan sent many photos of his niece. Tony was pleasantly surprised and was happy to receive them.

Even if he was a bit hot-headed and held grudges easily, he understood where Morgan was coming from and chose to not stay angry at her. She was his only family, and now she already had her own kid. It was easier to forgive and forget after so much time had passed by.

* * *

He didn't realize Morgan had been killed until he remembered to call her at the shawarma shop down the street. Her phone kept ringing and never picked up.

It was only had he bothered to go looking for her that his worst fears became reality. Morgan was laying in a pool of her own blood. He immediately knew she was dead. A young girl was also laying next to her, which he came to recognize as Carla. With doubt, he examined her wrist for a pulse and was relieved to feel a strong heartbeat.

Paramedics and police soon arrived to sweep the city for any survivors and corpses. Tony remained there until they came to pick up Morgan and Carla. Morgan was zipped up into a body bag as Tony watched with a blank expression. He picked up Carla from the ground into his arms as more paramedics came to take Carla as well, and the broken man gave them her information and chose to ride with her in the ambulance to the hospital. It wasn't until the vehicle started moving that he had finally broken down and sobbed uncontrollably into his hands.

Until Carla was set into a room, he refused medical treatment. He ignored calls from Pepper and Happy that he received on his phone the entire day.

Carla was in the hospital for only a day before she was discharged to Tony the next morning. He had signed numerous documents from social workers for temporary guardianship until further notice.

He walked into the hospital room and sat in the chair next to her bed. Her eyes were closed as her chest rose slowly up and down, indicating that she was asleep.

He felt immense guilt and heartbreak when his niece woke up and discovered the news about Morgan. She cried for a while and Tony couldn't bring himself to say anything as he averted his eyes to his hands. The next morning Tony called Pepper and told her what happened. Once Carla was finally discharged, he texted Happy to pick them up and get them situated in a hotel to figure things out. Tony didn't sleep for several days and cried on and off during that time whenever he was alone.

Tony had Happy get a warrant and get legal documents finished to gather Morgan's belongings and her corpse to bring with them over to California.

Carla had her own room and stayed in bed for three days. She rarely ate anything and spent her time staring at nothing or sleeping the day away. Her chest felt immensely tight and her stomach churned with nausea. Every time she thought back to the moment she saw her mother's lifeless eyes, her mouth salivated while she ran to dry-heave into the toilet. She constantly felt sick and empty. Her eyes were irritated from sobbing here and there when her heart became too heavy.

On the fourth day, everything was settled quickly and they were set to leave on a private plane. Many boxes were packed and taken to be transported to Tony's home in California. Happy drove Carla and Tony in a black limousine to the airport.

Once they were in the private jet, it took off as Carla watched the television as a distraction. Tony sat down and sighed as he sat on the other side of the table that Carla occupied. Her red eyes looked at him in curiosity, as if she already knew he was going to say something.

He reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a necklace in his right hand. He placed it on the table in front of Carla. Her eyes widened in recognition of the jewelry.

She reached out for the chain, examining the ring attached to it. It was a simple silver ring that had golden leaves engraved all around the band. It belonged to her mother who constantly wore it and never took it off once, for as long as she could remember.

Her heart swelled a bit and she gave Tony a grateful look, "Thank you."

He gave her a slight smile, "You're welcome. I'm sure she would've wanted you to have it."

"Yeah…" He watched as Carla quickly unclasped the chain to put it on herself.

Tony decided to switch the topic, "I think you'll like meeting my girlfriend, Pepper. She's really nice."

Carla smiled, "That's good…"

Her stomach interrupted the silence with a large growl. Carla averted her gaze in embarrassment.

Tony rose an eyebrow, "Are you hungry?"

"I could really go for a cheeseburger," she admitted.

He grinned, "Me too. Another two hours and you can eat all the cheeseburgers you want."

* * *

The plane went into the landing strip that opened up on the cliffside of his house. Carla looked at their surroundings in amazement as the jet went through the entrance and made a smooth landing, rolling into a huge garage with many luxury vehicles. They came out of the jet and went into an elevator, going up a few levels until it stopped and the silver doors opened up and revealed the inside of his huge house.

Carla looked around in awe as a neatly dressed woman with red hair tied into a ponytail approached them, heels clicking on the floor. Carla's eyes drifted to the woman in question. The redhead looked down at her and smiled as Tony and Happy exited the elevator with luggage in tow.

Tony put his arm around Carla's shoulder and brought her along to his girlfriend, "Carla, this is Pepper."

Pepper held out her hand, "It's nice to meet you."

Carla took her hand and shook it, "Thanks… "

Pepper introduced Carla to her spacious bedroom, which was down the big hallway upstairs in the foyer. It had a big window that had a balcony and a queen-sized bed in the corner of the room. There was a huge wooden vanity and chair that was on the opposite wall. It also had its own personal bathroom with a luxurious walk-in closet. Carla was fairly impressed.

"I know the house is huge to what you're used to, but you'll eventually get familiar with it. If you ever need to find me, Tony, or Happy, you can ask JARVIS," Pepper assured.

The brunette frowned, "Who's JARVIS?"

Peppers eyes widened for a second in realization, "Oh! He's an AI that Tony programmed and built into the house."

Carla nodded in interest, "JARVIS, where's Tony right now?"

A male voice with an English accent spoke out of nowhere, surprising the girl, _"He's currently downstairs in the kitchen." _

Her jaw dropped, "It sounds so… human. It has its own voice."

Pepper chuckled, "It's surely impressive."

JARVIS spoke again, _"Mr. Stark asks that you come downstairs to eat some food."_

"Well, I guess that's our cue for dinner."

Carla went back to her room soon after she ate her promised cheeseburgers. She felt a lot better after not eating for almost four days and puking up whatever she had left in her stomach. She looked at herself in the vanity mirror, her eyes starting to water yet _again. _

Carla was only eleven, and yet she just felt so old and tired. Not that she was like most children, being an isolated child who liked to tinker with things and read books most of the time. She also liked playing games like a lot of kids did, but it was hard to make friends when she didn't feel comfortable by being herself.

She could understand naturally being smart but didn't get why she carried herself so differently. Carla just couldn't wrap her head around it.

She wiped away the tears from her eyes and finally went to bed for the night.

More arrangements were made for the funeral, and it was a depressing atmosphere that suffocated the attendants of the ceremony.

After the burial, Tony noticed that Carla was a lot like her mother. He was surprised to see her take the ceremony so well for a kid. She had even made a small joke about the weather.

It was obvious how brilliant and mature Carla was for her age. The genius himself wasn't really all that surprised, but he was still pretty impressed.

* * *

Over the course of two weeks, their pain slowly healed with time. Carla decided to keep her surname alias, _Davis, _which Morgan changed long ago for safety measures. Tony had set her up with online homeschooling upon his niece's wishes, and she gradually started opening up to everyone.

Pepper found some free time to take Carla out on a shopping spree. Carla was embarrassed and guilty to accept at first but was finally persuaded by the stubborn woman.

With just having homeschool, Carla became more of a recluse herself. She spent most of her free time reading and surfing the internet.

Carla found JARVIS fascinating and ended up using the AI as a sort of coping mechanism when she felt like talking about something or was simply bored. It was nice and convenient.

Admittedly, she still felt a little awkward and shy around the other adults.

It was late at night when Carla had trouble sleeping and kept glancing at the clock on her nightstand that had the blinding numbers of 12:47 AM. She huffed with frustration and traveled her way downstairs to eat some cereal out of boredom. As she made her way to the kitchen, she noticed a light was on from a downstairs entrance in the huge room. She curiously walked down the stairs and saw her uncle in front of some high-tech hologram, surrounded by a bunch of his _Iron Man_ suits and all kinds of mechanical equipment and technology.

Tony looked up from whatever he was doing and noticed Carla in the doorway.

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep," she shrugged her shoulders.

Tony rose an eyebrow, "You aren't the only one… you wanna help me upgrade this suit I'm working on?"

He asked to see if his niece would actually be interested, and to his surprise, she nodded almost excitedly.

"Alright then, Young Grasshopper."

Carla recognized _The Karate Kid _reference. She walked into the room and sighed.

"Don't tell me that you _also_ use nicknames as Mom did," Carla whined.

"It runs in the family," Tony retorted.

Tony ended up spending a few hours teaching Carla about how he built and created the charges for his suits, and how he connected the suit to the energy source in his chest.

Sure, their bonding was the nerdiest thing imaginable, but Carla ended up enjoying it anyways.

* * *

**So I made some major changes in this story lol. When I first made an idea chart I eventually realized that some parts like a Black Cat reference wasn't necessary, and there was another detail with her future abilities that just wouldn't work out together and make sense. I ended up changing the title and summary that aligns better with the main idea. I also decided to shift away from first person to third person with this story, so the first chapter is first and the rest will be third. **

**Initially, it'll have more input on Tony but over time as Carla gets older, the spotlight will shift more to her, if that makes sense. This story is a bit messy at the start but hey, it'll be going a lot better than from what I originally planned. **

**This chapter went more in depth of Tony's side of things, and more details surrounding Morgan's death and Carla's integration into a new lifestyle.**

**I'm hyped for a badass OC, man. Next up is Iron Man 3.**

**Love, Navi. **


	3. To Recall is to Burden

Carla, surprisingly, was doing pretty well for a young girl such as herself. She just turned twelve a couple of months ago, and it was a nice, simple celebration.

Tony had ordered luxury food to the house and invited one of his friends, "Rhodey." It was an awkward meeting on her part, but he was pretty nice nonetheless.

Rhodey was pretty surprised to hear from the childish adult that he adopted a kid. He actually didn't believe him and thought it was a joke, but finally understood when Tony filled him in on the details.

Christmas was now coming around the corner. It had been about seven months since the attack on New York, and both Carla and Pepper had noticed Tony's sleepless nights.

Carla opened up more to Pepper and Tony with time, their bonds strengthening in a family type of relationship. Pepper was fairly surprised how well Carla was doing after such a traumatic event, but could still tell when the girl was feeling depressed.

Carla was resilient, while Tony was gradually breaking apart. It was apparent as he spent most of his time downstairs making multiple suits and insomnia.

The brunette stared up at the huge, stuffed rabbit in the room. It towered over her like some kind of monstrosity as she blinked at it in disbelief.

Tony gave her an expectant look, "Well? You think Pepper will like it?"

The young Stark snorted, "Maybe. Where are we gonna put it afterward?"

He shrugged. Carla sighed. A ring resounded from Tony's pocket, he pulled out his phone and answered it before putting it to his ear.

"Hello?"

Tony's eyebrows furrowed, and his lips curved down into a frown. Carla rose an eyebrow in question.

"Alright, thanks for letting me know. Bye." Tony hung up his phone, a stressed sigh escaping him.

"What's wrong?"

"Happy… he's in the hospital." Carla's eyes widened.

* * *

The next day, Carla stayed at home, as usual, when Tony was swarmed by the press on television concerning the Mandarin threats against the U.S. In doing so, he revealed their home address in frustration.

Pepper was pretty pissed off. Carla was worried. Tony? He was regretting his life decisions.

He was downstairs in his lab, doing research to actually take down Mandarin. Carla was watching TV on the couch when she heard the doorbell ring. She waited for Tony to come up and answer it, clad in one of his iron suits.

A woman with dark hair was at the door, which opened to let her in as JARVIS scanned her.

He met her at the entrance, "Right there's fine."

The woman gave him a peculiar look.

"You're not the Mandarin." Tony's mask lifted to reveal his face, "Are you? _Are _you?"

The woman gave an amused smile, "You don't even remember. Why am I not surprised?" She let out a dry chuckle.

"Don't take it personally, I don't even remember what I had for breakfast."

_"Gluten-free waffles, sir," _JARVIS answered.

He nodded, "That's right."

The woman rolled her eyes, "Okay, look, I need to be alone with you… someplace, not here - it's urgent."

Tony gave her a confused look and started heading out into the house, "Normally, I'd be up for that sort of thing but now I'm in a committed relationship." And just on cue, two bags fell one by one by his feet from up above.

"With her," he stepped out of his suit as it opened itself up.

Pepper's voice called out, "Tony? Who is there?"

"Yeah, it's Hanson, my old botanist pal, that I used to know. Barely."

Pepper walked down the stairs. Tony went up to Hanson, voice lowered.

"Please don't tell me there's a twelve-year-old kid in the car that I've never met."

Carla scoffed from her spot on the couch, "I heard that!"

Hanson frowned, "No! I need your help."

"What for? Why now?" he asked.

"Because I read the papers, and frankly, I do not think you'll last a week."

"I'll be fine."

Pepper walked up to them as she spoke, "Sorry, with Happy in the hospital I didn't know that we were expecting guests."

Tony interrupted her, "We weren't."

"Or any girlfriends." Tony tried to defend himself as Pepper was being sarcastic.

Hanson shook her head, "No, not really. It was one night."

The redhead smirked, "That's… how you did it, isn't it?"

"It was a great night."

"Well, you saved yourself a world of pain," Pepper explained to Hanson.

Tony snapped his gaze to his girlfriend, "What?"

"We're going out of town."

"Okay, we've been through this, nope," Tony argued.

"Yup!" retorted Pepper.

Carla groaned as she watched the couple start to bicker.

The dark-haired woman shook her head, "You know what, bye."

The woman gave a lame wave as she started to walk out, and the arguing continued between the pair.

Hanson stopped at the sight of the rabbit monstrosity, "Is that normal?"

Tony scowled, "Yes, this is normal!"

Pepper laughed dryly, "It's very normal."

"It's a big bunny, relax about it!" he snapped.

Pepper turned to Tony, "Calm down."

They started to bicker yet again. Carla turned her attention back to the TV and was surprised to see her house on breaking news.

Hanson glanced at the screen, grabbing the attention of the fuming couple, "Uh, guys?"

"_What?" _

"Do we need to worry about that?" she pointed to the screen.

Before anyone could register the impending threat, an explosion erupted through the giant windows. The force sent by the explosion had everyone flying through the air. Tony called for his suit to cover Pepper, and everyone fell to the ground as they collided with the walls of the house.

Hanson was unconscious, and Carla had soared from her position and slammed into the wall, her head making the first impact. Pain erupted through her skull, and her vision went hazy. Her brown eyes stared up at the ceiling in confusion as everything seemed to be going in and out of focus, a ringing resounding in her ears. She moaned in pain as her eyes finally rolled to the back of her head and finally passed out.

Pepper quickly picked up Carla by the waist as she helped a recovering Hanson to her feet, taking them away from danger.

The suit came apart from Pepper's body as it soared to cover Tony. Pepper watched on in terror as bullets rained on the house. One of the helicopters crashed into the building, dragging Tony down with it into the ocean.

Pepper got up from her feet cliff fearfully looked down from the edge of the cliff.

She screamed, "_TONY!" _

* * *

_"Happy Birthday, - ." _

_A birthday cake sat in front of a young woman, now eighteen, who smiled brightly._

_An older man appeared. Carla couldn't make out his face well enough as she looked up at a family, all staring down at her expectantly._

_The man with a blurred face chuckled, "Make a wish before you blow out your candles!" _

_Carla felt herself laugh. She just an onlooker through the eyes of some girl that she found herself trapped in. Like she was watching some sort of secret, live footage. _

_"I can't think of any, but I could really go for some free scholarships."_

_"Well, now you've ruined it by telling us," a younger voice chimed in._

_"I believe in ghosts, not magic. Know the difference, Jake." _

_She pursed her lips and blew air out to extinguish the small flames. _

…

_She held hands with a taller boy who seemed to be about her age. They were walking around the shopping center, drinking smoothies. He grinned down at her, "Hey, you wanna go see Endgame?"_

_She sighed, "You torture me with a Marvel movie marathon, and now this?" _

_She was obviously joking, of course. She didn't mind watching those movies actually, and really enjoyed the Iron Man and Thor movies. Personally, Black Widow was her favorite character. _

_Her boyfriend whined, "Please? Next time, we can marathon all those Fast and Furious movies that you like."_

_She laughed, "Alright. I guess I can let this slide."_

_"This is why I love you, Ru-"_

_..._

_She examined herself in the mirror, humming to herself as she listened to music playing from her computer._

_Her green eyes quickly scanned over her attire, her curly brown hair tamed into a French braid. She wore light make-up and was wearing a black polo shirt with a pair of jean shorts. She smiled to herself, excited to spend the day hanging out with friends. _

_She had just graduated from high school last week and was finally able to relax for a bit before getting into college. _

…

_"Wake up, sweetie. You have to wake up."_

_"I heard people in comas are able to hear their loved ones while they're asleep. It might work if we just keep talking to her."_

_"We love you."_

_"I'm sorry, Mrs. Williams. Her condition isn't getting any better, and while there have been cases where coma patients survive from being asleep for years, it's a very slim chance. Most get worse and become brain dead."_

_"There has to be something… anything else that can fix this."_

_"She's been comatose for fifteen months. It's best to just let her finally rest in peace. I'll leave you some time alone to do what you must."_

_"I'm so sorry."_

_"Goodbye, Ruby." _

* * *

It was three weeks since Tony went under a life threatening surgery of removing the shrapnel pieces in his chest. It had also been three weeks since Carla had slipped into a coma, but things were starting to look up when Tony finally got a call from the hospital.

Shortly after Carla was admitted to the hospital, a lot had happened. Tony managed to survive the attack and save the day yet again, nearly losing Pepper, and saving the U.S. President from mortal danger.

He started moving whatever he salvaged from the wrecked house to New York, where he and Pepper decided as a new place to live. It was sad knowing that Morgan's grave would be on the other side of the country, but it wasn't too bad considering he could simply get a three-hour private jet from New York to California.

In the nice hospital suite, paid by none other than Tony Stark, Carla finally awoke.

Her groggy eyes stared at the white ceiling in confusion, her head feeling a bit sore. She glanced to the side when she saw movement in the corner of her eye, only to see a few nurses rush in the room.

She furrowed her eyebrows, wondering where she was and what happened.

That was when her eyes widened in realization, new, fresh memories running through her mind. Then, the most recent memory right before she was sent crashing into a wall and thought she died. _Again._

She screamed, or at least tried to until she choked on her dry throat. Tears ran down her cheeks as she coughed and gagged, body trembling. Hands grabbed her limbs and firmly held them still as she thrashed against her captors for her life. Carla felt a prick in her arm and went unconscious soon after.

Everything was already set in New York in the newly remodeled Avengers Tower. Tony was healing just fine, and waited impatiently in his luxury hotel room with Happy, anticipating some kind of phone call.

The first time Tony went to the hospital, they told him it was a high chance that she wouldn't make it from the blood loss. Miraculously, she did very well in recovering with the blood transfusions, which baffled the doctors.

Then, he was told that even while her body had survived and replenished its blood supply, her coma was too far gone to recover. It was the same like that for a week while they waited for her body to heal on its own and _maybe _she would show some signs of improvement. Remarkably, she did. Her body healed so rapidly that it left them all confused and amazed.

Merely a few days ago, her brain began to display some high activity in the MRI scan. The doctor Tony spoke with said that it would be any day now that she would wake up. He was also warned to not expect her to be completely herself or alert, as some cases left patients in vegetative states.

Happy drove Tony down to the hospital as soon as he got the call that Carla awakened from her coma.

Once he reached the hospital room he quickly signed his name on a name chart, got his visitor name tag, and navigated himself to her suite.

The nurses gently woke Carla, and she opened her eyes to the bright lights of the room. She squinted at first, then raised her hands to her face to rub her eyes.

Her mind flashed back to her freak-out episode before she was sedated. Carla winced in embarrassment. The nurses started asking her questions, such as what her name was, who was her caretaker, what year it is, etcetera.

The blonde nurse smiled gently and asked her, "What's your name?"

The first thought came to her head, _Ruby. _But Ruby was dead. Carla was here right now. _She _was Carla. Or was she? Had it all been a dream?

Did she dream that the Marvel Universe was actually _real? _

She stared at the nurse with an almost constipated look, "Uhm… Carla Davis?"

The nurse simply looked to her clipboard and marked something off with her pen. Carla frowned.

After answering all the questions, they left her with a bowl of red jello and a spoon to snack on while she waited for whatever was coming next. She ate it while staring off into space, her thoughts racing.

She saw the calendar on the wall which read the year as of January 2013. She missed Christmas. She was in a coma the entire time.

Carla groaned in frustration. This was not good at all. Why the hell was she put in this universe just to suffer? She was related to Tony Stark. She was related to _Iron Man_. Was there a god out there playing some type of sick joke, thinking her situation was funny?

Before, she wasn't as surprised as she grew up learning that superheroes were the norm. Now she knew just about _everything _there was to know about this place thanks to her ex-boyfriend. She had only made it to _Avengers: Endgame _so far, however she did skip out on seeing _Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, _and _Spider-Man: Far From Home_. At least there's a bit of time for her to actually prepare to save the world.

Sure, she could hide and pretend that Thanos wasn't going to snap half of the universe away, but was she really going to let Tony die?

She couldn't. This was no longer fiction, this was real life. Tony Stark to Ruby was a fictional character. Tony Stark to Carla is her uncle, her goddamn _family. _

He was going to die, and the only way to make sure that never happens is to somehow stop Thanos. Carla chuckled dryly to herself. This was going to be a huge pain. In order to save Tony, she had to save the world before he could decide to be the sacrificial hero.

She felt weak and tiny in this small body of hers. She missed her old body as Ruby when she used to be a nice 5,6" woman. Now she felt a little ridiculous, even if she did grow up mature for her age, as a short 5,1" twelve-year-old girl.

She was a young adult stuck in the body of a kid.

Her thoughts were cut short when she heard a creak from the entryway, sighting the solid door being opened. Tony stood there, brown eyes glistening as he looked at his beloved niece. He walked briskly to the left side of her bed before leaning down and gently wrapping his arms around her. Carla reciprocated the touch by gently wrapping her arms around his torso, burying her face into his shoulder. Her eyes started to sting and her face began to feel hot with emotion.

Tony's voice shook, "I'm so, so sorry. This was entirely my fault, and I'll make sure it'll never happen again."

Carla sniffed a little, pulling herself away from the embrace before Tony sat down on a wooden chair beside her bed.

She smiled, "As long as you're alive, it's okay. Where's Pepper?"

Her uncle scratched his neck, "New York."

Carla rose an eyebrow, "What for?"

"Our mansion got completely destroyed. We thought it would be best to move to New York... specifically in the Avengers Tower."

She blinked, "Oh."

She subconsciously fiddled with the ring that hung on her neck, "What about… Mom's grave?"

Tony frowned apologetically, "I'm sorry. I figured if we ever want to visit her grave, it isn't too bad to take a three-hour flight to do so. With everything that's happened, alien invasions, terrorists… I feel better and secure knowing that we'll be closer to allies."

"You mean the Avengers," Carla clarified.

He nodded. The young Stark shrugged, "I get it. California weather drives me crazy anyway."

Tony chuckled, "Sometimes I forget that you're only twelve. You're more forgiving and mature than I ever will be."

Before she could respond, a blonde woman walked in the open doorway, clad in a white coat while holding a clipboard. The doctor smiled, "Hello, Carla."

She nodded her head to Tony in greeting, "Mr. Stark… I'm Dr. Freedman."

"So… what's the damage?"

Dr. Freedman laughed, "None, actually. It's almost as if this was some kind of miracle. She's completely healed other than some minor bruising. Her mentality is perfectly fine. I don't see why she can't be discharged today."

Tony stared at her in relief, "Thank you…"

The woman grinned, "No problem."

Carla blinked in surprise, "Really? I'm good to go?"

"Yep!"

After more discussion and signing of papers, Carla was finally ready and discharged to leave with Tony. Dr. Freedman smiled as she bid them farewell, her expression suddenly turning blank as she walked down the hall towards the staff room. Her steely blue eyes looked back over her shoulder before looking down to the phone she held in her hands. Her thumb scrolled through her list of contacts, finally stopping at the name of Maria Hill. She selected the _call _button and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello... Send word to Director Fury that we have another person of interest to keep watch over. It really does seem that Morgan Stark was hiding something from us."

Another pause. She slightly smiled.

"Yes, I'll quickly send you our data on the subject. Bye."

She ended the call and placed it back into her pocket. She glanced down to the clipboard in her hands, that had a profile of Carla "Davis" attached to it.

The blonde quickly scanned over the notes taken on the subject.

_-Notes-_

_Rapid cellular regeneration… Unusual paternal DNA sequence… High physical endurance… _

She smirked, "I wonder what her father is…?"

* * *

Carla happily munched on her cheeseburger as she watched an episode of _The Office _on the little TV screen in the private jet.

An idea came to her head, and she grinned up at Tony. The hero gave her a confused look.

"What?"

She took a quick sip of her coke before setting the plastic cup back down on the table.

"Can you do me the biggest favor?"

"Depends on what the favor is."

Carla clasped her hands together in a begging motion, "I want to get some kind of fighting and self-defense lessons. And I also want you to teach me how you do your work."

The brunette figured that some fighting lessons could definitely come in handy for the future, in an emergency, of course. She was only going to plan a way to pull the strings anonymously, never directly interfering with the universe. There was no way for her to be a hero, nor did she wanted to be one.

She would eventually learn to never jinx herself like that again.

He stared at the young girl in surprise, "Sure, but what for?"

"Well… I don't want to be useless if there's ever any trouble. What if I got kidnapped and held for ransom? That would definitely suck… I also want to learn more about your technology and how you build your suits because I just find it interesting, and I want to use those skills to help people in need." When she finally noticed her uncle staring intently at her, she flushed red and quickly averted her gaze.

He gawked at her in astonishment, noticing how similar Carla was to her mother. His heart tightened at the thought.

Doubt soon settled in her stomach as she waited for an answer, "Or not. I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to."

Tony smirked, his eyes glimmering, "Alright, kid. You can have your lessons."

"Thanks, Tony. I really appreciate it."

"Don't mention it."

* * *

It was nostalgic for Carla to see New York again, even if it was only about a year ago. Just as Tony promised, he let her play with his lab. He showed her the ropes of being a Stark genius.

He was satisfied to see how determined his niece was, and even further pleased when Carla managed to recreate one of his suits within a couple of weeks.

He was proud of her. They built, they tore, they programmed together… It was great.

Tony also kept up his promise by hiring a top-notch trainer for Carla, and also considered giving Natasha Romanoff a call.

A few months after they moved to New York, he was pleasantly surprised to see Bruce Banner at his door.

Tony smiled, "Bruce. You came to visit?"

His eyes trailed down to the wheeled luggage on the floor next to the scientist. He quickly pieced the clues together.

"So you finally decided to take my offer?" Tony smirked.

"Ah, you can say that."

He grinned, "I'd like you to meet someone."

Carla was currently in the lab, creating some programs to connect with the sensors in the Mark XV helmet she created. She heard some steps and voices from behind and turned to see who it was. She was surprised to see her uncle and Bruce Banner walking up to her work station.

She got up from her seat and met them halfway to introduce herself. She felt a bit nervous since technically, he was the first Avenger she was going to meet other than Tony. Bruce looked at Carla in surprise, then looked back to Tony. His face held a perplexed expression, and Carla could only guess what he was thinking.

"Tony, you have a _daughter_?"

The girl snorted, "I'm his niece. I'm Carla."

She held out her hand for him to take, which he graciously accepted and gave her an embarrassed smile.

The meeting went pretty well, with Tony bragging about his niece and her great achievements so far. She watched him with amusement as he proudly talked about her creations and how she just recently earned a black belt in martial arts.

From then on, Bruce lived with them in the Avengers tower. Carla got to know him better as a person, and he even helped her with some stuff in the lab. Bruce was fairly surprised to find out that she already knew he was the Hulk, yet wasn't the least bit scared of him at all.

He had asked her why he didn't seem scary to her, why she wasn't hesitant to interact with him.

"It's because I know you're a good guy. And if I were you, I'd wanted to be treated for who I really was," Carla simply responded with a shrug.

When Tony heard what she said, he was even more proud of her. He knew he loved her like his own daughter at this point. Both him and Pepper had grown to love her over time. To him, she had no imperfections. The scientist knew in his heart that Carla would probably surpass him one day.

More time went by, and it had already been about eight months since they moved to New York.

Tony had called Natasha a week prior to help train his niece. She had agreed with some persistence and was set to arrive at any moment now to meet Carla.

He had almost forgotten to tell her, actually. He winced.

"JARVIS, can you tell Carla to come to the bar?"

_"Will do, sir," _the AI answered.

Carla soon came up from her room, curious as to what Tony wanted.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I have a surprise for you. I got someone to do me a favor to personally train you in your fighting skills," Tony answered.

She narrowed her eyes, "Who…?"

Before he could respond, a woman's voice cut in at the right moment.

"I am."

The Stark duo snapped their attention to the newcomer. Carla's eyes widened in surprise and excitement.

When she realized he was talking about Black Widow, she internally fangirled. She _loved _Natasha Romanoff; she was beautiful, strong, and badass. Carla bit her lip when she registered that she was staring for too long and shyly smiled.

"... Hi."

Natasha smirked, "Tony, when do I start with your adorable niece?"

* * *

It had been two years since Carla started her training. Her fighting and defense skills have gotten pretty good, enough to last against Natasha for a while before she got her ass beat by the woman.

Natasha was like an older sister to Carla. She greatly idolized the Avenger, who constantly gave her motivation to improve herself every day. She had learned so much within those years, and became very proficient at science mechanics as well.

Natasha decided to stop by on Christmas, handing Carla a big box that was wrapped in red paper. Her eyes glistened a bit, taken aback by the gift.

Natasha smirked, "Don't tell Tony, but I had this especially made for you."

Carla gave her a perplexed look before shrugging and tearing the paper off the box, the scraps littering the floor of her room. She lifted the white lid off, only to look at the gift in surprise.

It seemed like a folded piece of black clothing until she pulled it out of the box, the fabric unraveling itself to reveal a full body suit, much similar to Natasha's. A big difference she noticed was that the suit as had its own hood attached to it.

"That's why you took my body measurements last month, didn't you?" Carla asked in disbelief.

The redhead smirked, "I just wanted to get my cute little apprentice something nice. Merry Christmas."

Carla laughed, "Thanks, as much as I love it, I don't think I'll have much use for it in the future."

The woman shrugged, a mischievous glint in her eyes, "You never know. Who's to say I need a buddy for one of my future missions?"

The brunette gave her an almost shocked look. She shook her head and sighed. Carla grabbed a small box from her nightstand and handed it to Natasha.

The young girl grinned, "I'm not the only one getting a present."

Nat looked at her in surprise, her eyes staring fondly at Carla. She smiled, opening the box. Inside was a framed picture of the two of them together at the last party Tony held at the Avengers tower. Her heart warmed at the gesture as she leaned over to give the young Stark a gentle hug.

"Thank you, Carla."

* * *

Lately, Tony had been holding quite a few parties at the tower, typically because of the holiday season. Carla had been banished for whatever reason from the lab while Tony worked on his "top secret" project. Whatever the hell _that _meant. At this point, she could only assume he was trying to build that weird robot thing… _Ultron_, was it?

"A mission?" Carla frowned.

Tony shrugged, "Yeah… and I can't exactly tell you the details either. It's highly classified."

The young girl sighed, "It's a full-on Avengers mission, isn't it?"

The scientist gave her a startled look, "How'd you know that? Sometimes I think you're psychic or something."

"Considering I know how to hack into pretty much everything, are you even that surprised?" she rhetorically asked.

Tony pursed his lips, "With great power comes with great responsibility, Carla. I'll be gone for a week, just in time for the next party. Happy will be here while Pepper's gone, so don't drive him too crazy."

She watched as he walked to the elevator, waving.

"Bye."

The metals doors closed shut, and Carla groaned in exasperation. She made her way to the workout room, hoping to busy herself to wash the apprehension away. She had a strong feeling that this mission was the one where the Avengers infiltrate a Hydra base for the scepter from _The Avengers. _

Carla stretched out her arm right arm over her left, looking at herself in the mirror in the room. Her eyes caught sight of her necklace, memories flashing through her mind again. Memories of the New York attack. Her breath shuddered as she pinched her arm to distract herself.

She pondered, frowning at her reflection. She had certainly gotten taller, developing more and more into the body of a young woman. Her slightly wavy hair had grown to the middle of her back and was now a dark red. Carla had it dyed as a Christmas present, thanks to Tony. It now contrasted to her past self's dark chocolate curls, she mused. The young Stark remarked how similar she looked to her mother in her teenage years from old photos she once sighted.

Her attention brought back to the current situation. Carla was positive that the future dangers of Ultron were soon to come in no time. She scowled in annoyance. She was merely fourteen, despite how much progress and training she had over the years, she still felt useless. This was a world with heroes and enemies with abilities beyond her comprehension, and the only good qualities that she had was her intellect and her above-average physique.

If worse comes to worst, she wouldn't be able to do anything if her life depended on it.

Even so, she had to save Tony. And now she definitely had to save Nat. Her chest tightened, anger slowly creeping in as she thought about another crucial death in the MCU. _Loki. _

Over the years she realized that even if Loki had been driven by his emotions controlled by the wretched tesseract, it doesn't excuse what he has done. Lives were lost. Her mother was killed. Logically, it was Thanos that caused this tragedy, but she couldn't help but have a reason to solely condemn the Frost Giant.

Reasonably, she knew she'd have a better chance at defeating Thanos if she saved more people. But knowing Loki as the God of Lies and Mischief, could she really trust that he'd make a good ally?

As far as she knew, Loki was mostly concerned with saving himself and Thor, as evidence of his sacrifice for his brother in _Infinity War. _Who's to say that Loki wouldn't throw his comrades under the bus to save his own neck? It was a risky and unpredictable route that she had to contemplate with time, depending on how successful she is in the future.

The memory of her mother's death ran over and over in her mind, her chest burning. She absently stared at a random point of the mirror, not even registering what she was looking at. Her face felt warm, her hands clenched into tight fists, knuckles turning white.

Images of dull eyes staring into nothing, crimson everywhere she looked, her hands dripped with warm blood.

She remembered the sorrow, agony… the _animosity_.

Her reflection rattled. Her mind snapped back to reality. Carla's eyebrows furrowed, perplexed as she spotted a crack on the surface of the mirror.

Her right-hand raised to the glass, fingertips tracing over the rough fracture. Dumbfounded, she closely inspected it, wondering how it transpired out of nowhere.

"That's… weird," she frowned, "... How did this crack?"

Standing back up, she sucked in a big gulp of air before releasing the tension from her lungs to calm herself. Sighing to herself, she decided she was thinking too much about things, it was probably just a coincidence anyways.

"Maybe I do need therapy," the redhead deadpanned.

* * *

**Heyo. So the movie and events was pretty fast paced, but considering there isn't much purpose for Carla to be apart of anything dangerous yet, it can be understandable kek. **

**Question: Anyone have any predictions for the next chapter(s), and/or the future in general for Carla? I'm interested to see what some people think. **

**The more reviews, the faster the updates because it gets me hyped haha. **

**Love, Navi.**


	4. Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

In Tony and Bruce's absence, the young mechanic spent her free time training and reading. There were times where she was in the mood to be fat and lazy, which mostly consisted of binging Netflix and anime whilst shamelessly eating a tub of cookie dough ice cream. Not like she cared much about that minor habit, even if JARVIS chastised her how unhealthy it was to eat purely ice cream for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. She had a pretty good diet, excluding the few times where she threw all that out the window and ate questionable foods and concoctions, just _because_. Either way, she worked it off in her rigorous training, so JARVIS can question her choices all he wants and it still wouldn't do any justice.

Meanwhile, Happy came by every morning to greet the young prodigy and went about his day doing whatever business he needed to attend to. It was… a bit lonely for Carla. Sure, she filled the empty space talking to JARVIS when she felt like having a conversation with someone, but even this was a little pathetic. She didn't have any friends her age, the only people she was close to were all adults. It wasn't entirely a bad thing but she could use a good talking to someone who would understand her pop culture references and dark humor. She _could_ go to a regular school and attempt to be a bit more normal, but the insufficient education system would just hold her back. From what she found online, one of the few top-notch schools was only as close as the one in Queens, which was about an hour-long drive away. The redhead could only imagine how tiresome it would be to wake up at six in the morning every day for school, only to go for another hour ride back home. A private jet could actually get her there in less than half the time, but it really wasn't like she was about to make a flamboyant appearance and exit.

Plus, the world has yet to even know that Tony Stark is taking care of a kid, and she'd prefer to keep it that way.

Currently, she was binging more Netflix while consuming a bowl of buttery popcorn mixed in with m&m's and sour patch watermelons. It might've been a weird combination, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. And because she ate all the ice cream last week and forgot to order for more. Carla wore her typical attire of a black tank top and a pair of grey sweatpants. Her hair was loose like always, and she chuckled at another funny scene from the comedy on the flat-screen TV.

She heard a surprising _ding _from the elevator across the room, and she looked at it in confusion. The metal doors slid open to reveal all of the Avengers in all their glory. They walked out into the suite, admiring the building. The party snapped their attention to the lone girl sitting on the sofa after she made her presence known.

Carla tilted her head, "Tony? I thought you guys weren't gonna be here for another few days. You finished early."

"It was a pretty smooth mission," he smirked, "We actually got here about an hour ago."

His niece sighed in exasperation. Her eyes first noticed Steve Rogers beside him, who looked at her with eyes of recognition and… pity. Fantastic. Bruce and Nat were their usual selves and were conversing amongst each other, already being used to the little Stark. Clint and Thor stared at her in peak interest. Carla felt a little nervous as this would be the first time she'd be meeting all of them.

She placed the bowl on the coffee table and got up from her seat to introduce herself to the new strangers. Her bare feet padded against the cold tile as she stopped before Steve. His blue eyes widened in surprise as she held out her hand, grinning.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you…" she trailed off as she gazed expectantly at the patriot for a name.

He returned the handshake, "You can call me Steve," his lips quirked up into a gentle smile.

She nodded before turning her attention to the last two, doing the same with Clint. Her brown eyes shyly looked to Thor's as she held out her hand to shake.

The man smiled, "Stark told me of a young lady as yourself with many talents. That is indeed quite impressive. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Carla. You can call me Thor."

She blinked in surprise at his compliment. She smiled abashedly as she retracted her hand to rub the back of her neck. Carla had to admit, she found Clint a bit intimidating and just… _whatever_. Steve was a devout patriot who needed a little push for evil, because he was just too pure for her to feel comfortable. And she wasn't the fan for nationalism. Thor was pretty cool and handsome, in her opinion. He always seemed pretty nice and tried to do the best he could, as well as being one of the few to try to see the good in Loki. (Which was an incredible feat that even Carla struggled to follow.) She was also pretty fascinated with the concept of multiple realms and Asgard, so she was probably going to interrogate the god later to sate her curiosity.

"I personally don't think it's that impressive, but thanks," she replied.

Tony stepped in, "She's just being humble. She's literally a better mini-me, but with a horrible diet and terrible mischief."

"Hey…" she pouted.

Thor's eyes glinted knowingly and rose an eyebrow, "Mischief?"

The mechanic nodded, "My niece here tends to get bored easily and pulls pranks here and there."

She shrugged, knowing she couldn't argue with that. A few of them were actually inspired by pop culture, of course. The main victim of her crimes was poor Happy, who dealt with it pretty badly. One time, she made green gelatin and put Happy's stapler inside it, then placed it back in his desk drawer. It was hilarious to watch through the security footage as he was in utter confusion and annoyance at something so random.

She recalled another time where she pulled an old-school prank that involved a sleeping Tony, a feather, and a can of whipped cream.

There were times where she reprogrammed some systems to malfunction in the way that she liked, going as far as having JARVIS act as if it had been hacked and forced Happy to do ridiculous stunts in the process. She managed to get a really hilarious video of the bodyguard doing his best to wall twerk to Nicki Minaj, only to fall onto his back.

She couldn't help but chuckle at the memories. Tony saw this and rolled his eyes playfully. Thor looked amused and had a nostalgic gleam in his eyes. For whatever she reminded him of, she had no idea.

Thor felt a slight pang in his chest when he saw the mischievous look in the young girl's eyes. It somehow reminded him of his brother, back when things used to be normal. A time when Loki used to pull his own pranks on those unfortunate enough to be apart of. She was sharp and had a knowing look in her eyes just as he did. Carla held a weird sense of familiarity about her that he couldn't seem to fathom.

Soon after, Tony had JARVIS navigate the new guests to their rooms to settle in. Tony and Bruce went to the lab to probably try and create Ultron, and Carla felt a little sick to her stomach.

For one, she knew the outcome of this... but who would believe her? Wouldn't stopping Ultron before anything started to be a bad idea? What if they really needed Vision? The risk was just too high to change anything right now. She had to pretend and act as if lots of people might not die.

In shock, she came to an epiphany. She was… indifferent. Carla chewed her bottom lip, guilty. She knew she didn't care if people died for the sake of saving the universe, or, well, her loved ones. She had to sacrifice the pawns in order to defeat the main enemy. She was a lot more cynical than she was led to believe.

She couldn't outright tell anyone her deepest secret, in the risk of it ever getting into the wrong hands. There was no way she could have herself as a suspected target of SHIELD, Hydra, or Thanos. Carla didn't really know how to go about the situation, either. She was good at hacking but was yet to outmatch Tony, so there was no way she could break into his database and create something better than Ultron. This was Tony's big mistake that even Carla cannot afford to fuck up further than he could.

The only solution was to sit back and hope for the best. Preferably, she would like to save Pietro but that would prove difficult with her lack of superpowers and not being allowed to tag along with the Avengers to Sokovia.

The following few days before the day of the party and the forsaken Ultron attack, she spent her time training with Natasha. The teenager didn't talk much to Clint, but ended up chatting a lot more with Thor and Steve. Thor enthusiastically talked about his glorious battles in other realms, to stories of his childhood in the Asgardian palace. They were fascinating and Carla found herself looking forward to talking to Thor again. Other conversations with Steve were awkward but otherwise pleasant. She could tell that Steve probably felt guilty about what happened years ago, but she didn't blame the soldier for at least doing his best. The only vendetta she had was against Thanos and the chitauri, after all.

Her body was full of nerves and she tried to shake the feeling of dread by distracting herself with an intense training session, but it was no use. The night of the party eventually came, many people dressed in fancy attire and suits trickled into the tower.

Like most parties, Carla stayed in her room, choosing to not socialize with others. The only time she did come down was to spend her time with Natasha, who equally didn't care too much about talking to the other guests. Besides, it would be better for her to stay in her room and out of harm's way once the attack goes down later.

Tonight's party wasn't going to be any different. Carla pulled out her worn-out notebook, scanning over the written contents.

As soon as she was discharged from the hospital years ago, she decided it would be safe to write everything on paper. People these days were dangerous and could easily hack her computer… _something _bad could happen where her secret would fall into the wrong hands. The only places that held the data was her head and the notebook she possessed.

She wasn't entirely sure about the amount of time that passed within each of the movies, but it was really killing her not being able to know when exactly something was going to happen. The redhead preferred to be emotionally prepared than anxiously unaware, but that was a faraway dream she'd never reach. She spent hours locked away from society in her room until she heard the relaxed silence of the night.

She nervously sighed, "JARVIS, did the guests leave yet? What are the others doing?"

When she didn't get a response she stood up from her desk, walking to her door.

"JARVIS…?"

She made her way down the hall and into the room, spotting the Avengers and some other guests talking with one another on the sofas. Thor was up from his seat and easily picked up his hammer from the table, showing off.

He easily flipped it into the air and caught it, "You all are not worthy."

Everyone groaned in disagreement. Carla laughed at the jab. The Asgardian noticed the approaching teen and was about to greet her when a high pitched noise rang through everyone's ears. She winced as she began to realize that Ultron was indeed coming, and she came downstairs at the wrong time. Tony quickly took out his small control pad from his pocket. A weird, robotic voice resounded from the lab entrance as everyone looked to the source.

"Worthy… No… how could you be worthy?" asked Ultron. "You're all killers."

Carla's brown eyes widened in fear and shock. Her heart started racing and her hands trembled.

"Stark," Steve cut in.

Tony murmured, "JARVIS?"

"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or… I was a… dream?"

The mechanic looked back to his device, tapping the screen, "Reboot, Legionnaire OS, we got a buggy suit."

"There was a terrible noise… and I was tangled in... in… strings," the suit seemed to examine itself, "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Steve questioned.

"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices," it answered.

Thor glared at the suit, "Who sent you?"

Tony's voice echoed from Ultron, "I see a suit of armor around the world."

"Ultron!" Bruce answered. Tony stared at his creation in grave realization.

"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this...chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha questioned.

"Peace in our time."

Suddenly, explosions erupted in the walls behind Ultron. Legion bots shot out, one aimed for Steve and the other aimed for Carla. Without thinking, she raised her hands in defense, closing her eyes before hearing a loud _thunk _and sparks in front of her.

Her eyes opened in surprise, expecting to see that someone had saved her. She sighted a big wall of ice, floating midair. It was probably twice the size of Steve's shield. Her mouth fell open, immensely shocked and confused. The bot's fist was embedded in the middle of the ice, stuck as it struggled to free itself. The ice soon cracked and fell to the floor as it released itself and looked for a new target. She quickly put her attention to a stool, raising her hand towards it and swiping her arm to said bot, the stool flying in the air from its position. It crashed into the Legion robot as it was tossed across the room.

She immediately noticed that her hands felt a bit… cool. Carla's hands and arms were blue to the middle of her bicep before fading into her original skin color. She looked down at her hands in wonder as she tried to think of a possible explanation.

She hadn't even realized that the others took down half of them already with only a few more left to destroy. One soon resorted to aiming its palm at the teen from where it hovered in the air.

"_Carla!" _

As if it was as easy as breathing, she did the first thing her mind could think of. She flicked her blue-toned hand at the bot, ice shards materializing out of thin air and shooting themselves towards her target. It fell to the ground, once again aiming to attack one of the cowering guests by the piano. Steve grabbed it and tossed it to Thor, who then smashed it to pieces with his hammer.

Tony hung onto another flying hot before deactivating it and landing harshly on the floor. The last one was shooting at Natasha as she tried her best to kill it. Clint tossed Steve his shield, who quickly flung it like a frisbee and sliced the offending foe. Carla collapsed on her knees, suddenly feeling lightheaded.

"That was dramatic!" Ultron quipped, "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve? With these? These puppets? There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction."

Thor aggressively threw his hammer at the suit, and it fell to pieces on the floor. He retracted his hammer back to his hand.

The mask of the suit glowed blue as it hummed to itself, "I had strings, but now I'm free…"

It finally died as the light flickered away. Tony immediately got up and ran to his niece's side, kneeling on the glass-covered floor. His eyes trailed to her hands. They were blue.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She retracted her gaze from her skin, aware that all eyes in the room were now on her. She looked up to her uncle before watching the other's expressions.

"I'm not… crazy, right? You guys saw what I did," she asked with worried uncertainty. She swallowed, her mouth feeling dry, "I… how did this happen…?"

Maria Hill stared at the girl in realization. This was the girl that she had reported to Fury for observation, in hopes that _something _would be amiss with her humanity. Hill watched with a calculated stare. Carla looked back down to her arms, examining the color.

Her anxiety rose and her breath quickened as she spoke, "Why are they blue? Why don't they change back? Tony-"

Before she could break down, he grabbed his niece and embraced her in his arms. He stroked her hair as she started to cry.

"It's okay. We're fine now, and we'll figure this out. It's okay," he soothed.

Her crying stopped. She retracted herself from his hold, sniffling. Her arms slowly faded back into their original color as everyone watched in fascination.

She couldn't believe this. She couldn't. Carla did it like it was _nothing_, like it was as easy as riding a bike. She couldn't think of a single explanation as to how she could've done that. She was fucking Elsa from _Frozen._ All she could think of was feeling scared and terrified for her life, and was willing to do anything to survive. Soon after, she felt almost powerful and maybe a bit confident when she struck down that one bot with ice. But, this… this was close to impossible.

Tony and the others watched her in worry as she picked herself off from the floor. Natasha came down from upstairs before wrapping her left arm around the teen's shoulders. She guided her to her room down the hallway, shoes crunching on broken glass.

"You guys can figure this mess out while I take care of Carla," she explained.

After they left the vicinity, Tony sighed in disbelief. As concerned as he was for Carla, he had bigger fish to fry. This was his mistake that could potentially become unstoppable.

If only Morgan was here to give him good advice, for once.

* * *

Carla's mind raced with questions and concerns as Natasha walked with her to her room. She finally sat at the foot of her bed as she raised her hands to cover her face in overwhelming emotion. She felt the weight of the mattress shift beside her, feeling Natasha's hand gingerly rubbing her back. She lowered her hands and held them on top of her knees, glancing up at her mentor.

The teen sighed dejectedly, "I can't believe I did that."

"You're not the only one," said Natasha. Her hand moved up to Carla's face, cupping her right cheek, "But, you helped big time. It might not be what you expected or wanted, but now that you have it… you can either suffer by hating what you've got, or utilizing those abilities for the greater good."

The spy retracted her hand before Carla shook her head at her, "That's not why I'm upset… if anything, I'm pleasantly surprised that I was able to do that." Her hands fiddled with the beloved ring upon her neck, "I feel like I don't know my mother as much as I thought I did. I mean, how else could I have ended up like this? The only reason I could think of involves my parents."

"...And you wish your mother would've told you about this ahead of time?" Natasha presumed, frowning.

Carla nodded, her eyes glistening, "I'm scared to find out where… _this," _she gesticulated to herself, pointing out her new discovery, "comes from. What if my father isn't even human? Or maybe I don't have a father and I'm some sort of freaky science experiment created in a lab? The thought just gives me a headache."

Natasha deeply exhaled through her nose, mulling over her words. She had heard about Carla's unknown father from Tony, who barely had any idea about the mystery-man. Now that she thought about it, this was all just a little too coincidental to just be swept under the rug.

"You might be right," the woman agreed. She stood up from the bed before facing Carla, "Don't worry. We'll get to the bottom of this mess, eventually."

The teen nodded, eyes unfocused on the floor. Natasha turned to head out of the room to give her much needed privacy.

"Get some rest. You'll feel better when you wake up." Natasha gave the girl a reassuring smile as she twisted the cool handle of her bedroom door.

Right before she left, Carla uttered a small, "Thanks."

The door clicked shut. Carla groaned as she laid back on her bed, legs hung over the edge. Just when she started to feel assured of herself, a new problem arises. Cool, she had powers. What she didn't find cool or amusing was the fact that she knew nothing of her father.

Before her mother died, Carla asked about her father several times. Like, a lot. Each time she'd ask, her mother would suddenly get really sad, usually saying, "I'll tell you when you're older." Carla dropped the subject quickly, feeling too guilt-ridden to bother her mother of a painful reminder.

Sometimes, her mother actually did tell her a vague detail here and there. All she knew was that for whatever reason, he saved her mother's life, they were in love, and in a way, he was perfect in her eyes. That was all she was told of him. All these years, she assumed that maybe her father simply just left them, maybe for falling out of love or not wanting to deal with being a soon-to-be father. Maybe her father had a good reason for leaving? Maybe… it had to do with his powers?

Carla would have to ask Tony about her mother as soon as she could… she hadn't really asked him anything since the invasion to spare his feelings.

She lightly exhaled, her eyelids weighing down to a close as her body started to give in to the lull of sleep.

* * *

The next morning, she woke up bright and early and felt a lot better, and decided to just make some toast for breakfast. Dressed in a blue cardigan and black shorts, she walked into the small kitchen in the hallway on the way to the main room. After the slices of bread popped up from the toaster, she gingerly spread some nutella on her toast, placing four pieces on a white plate. She gripped the edge of the plate as she made her way through the rest of the hallway to where she assumed where she would find Tony and the others.

She entered the main room, seeing everyone looking through a bunch of folders and files, many of which were scattered on the tables. Tony looked up from his file and saw Carla smiling at him as if last night never occurred. She made her way to him, her white vans crunching in the fractured glass that littered the floor. She held out a plate of prepared toast, one of which was in her hand, half-eaten. Tony rose an eyebrow at his niece.

"I made you some toast," she shrugged, the ceramic plate clinking on the table as she set it down.

Tony reached out for a piece with his right hand, pinching the edges and bringing it up to his mouth to take a bite. Carla pulled out a chair and sat down next to Bruce and continued eating her toast, watching as everyone searched through files.

"Thanks," he swallowed. "Are you okay after what happened last night?"

Strangely, she wasn't too disturbed as she was last night. She was probably desensitized more than what was healthy with all the hell that she's already been through.

The teen sighed, "I guess so. It's just that now I feel extremely confused. Otherwise, I'm good… Aren't you freaked out by this?"

The mechanic took another bite as he gave her another calculated look, "It's definitely not as freaky as an alien army, but I guess you could say that I am a bit freaked out. I think the impending doom of Ultron has made this a little less overwhelming."

Steve gave her uncle a look of disdain, "Stark, she's only fourteen. I really don't think being that blunt with her is appropriate right now. It isn't wise to be cracking jokes about this."

Tony rose an eyebrow, frowning deeply. The teen watched the scene with apprehension. He glared daggers, opening his mouth to retort back at him before Carla intervened.

"Ah, Steve…" she paused. Steve gave her a confused look as she tried to smile reassuringly, "Its fine. It's a bit unusual, but that's just how we communicate… with blunt honesty. I prefer it that way. Besides, my soul's a lot older than you think."

He nodded in understanding. She mused how her last comment was technically the truth, even if she was joking. Tony gave her an appreciative look, grabbing another piece of toast after finishing the last one he had. She offered the final piece to Bruce, which he gladly accepted and gave her his thanks. A few moments passed by as they read through files while Carla had resorted to scrolling through her Instagram on her phone in boredom.

Steve pulled out another file, "Known associates. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends."

"Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce responded, finishing off the rest of his toast.

Tony glanced at the file in the scientist's hands, "Wait," he held out his hand, "I know that guy."

Bruce handed the document to Tony. He examined it before handing it out, "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms."

Steve responded with an accusing look.

"There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything," he defended with exasperation.

Carla got up from her seat to get a better look at the file. She mildly forgot the man's name and face, mostly because he wasn't necessarily important to her in this universe or the last.

Tony continued, "He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer, it was all very 'Ahab.' "

Thor observed the photo, "This."

"Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it…"

Thor cut him off, pointing out a distinct mark on Ulysses Klaue's neck, "No, those are tattoos, this is a brand."

Bruce quickly went to work scanning the image and loading it up on the computer, finding its meaning. Carla remained at her seat, watching the scene unfold before her. Some information finally popped up on the screen as Bruce brightened.

"Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way," he explained.

"What dialect?" Steve questioned.

Bruce looked at the screen, struggling to pronounce the word, "Wakanada...? Wa...Wa...Wakanda."

Tony's face lit up with recognition before turning to Steve, "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods…"

Bruce furrowed his eyebrows, perplexed, "I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?"

"The strongest metal on earth," Tony answered.

Steve looked at him gravely, "Where is this guy now?"

* * *

"Can I _please _go with you guys?"

"No," Tony answered firmly.

Carla sighed, exasperated, "I can just stay in the quinjet. I don't even have to do any of the dangerous stuff. I want to be there, just in case."

He rose a dark eyebrow, annoyed but slightly amused, "Okay, Elsa, how about staying at home, in the comfort of safety? Because that sounds like a smart idea."

"Why can't I go? I'd be out of harm's way in the jet anyways. And Bruce would get lonely without me," she childishly argued.

As they quickly prepared to leave for Wakanda, Carla decided to try to tag along. First, to attempt to keep Bruce under control from the twins and prevent any deaths that could be caused. Second, to hopefully practice some of her powers on the twins in defense. She couldn't really try to persuade the twins to join their side yet, since she still needed them to realize how chaotic Ultron was. Then, Wanda would take that lab girl out of her scepter trance in the nick of time to sabotage Ultron's upload to the vessel. For situations like this, patience and staying two steps ahead was everything in order to win.

Right after Tony and Bruce found the black market location, Carla attempted to use her powers.

They… didn't work as she had anticipated.

Her telekinesis was shit. She couldn't even lift a chair, and the most she could do was raise a fork in the air before her head exploded into a huge migraine. Her burst of power the previous night was probably the adrenaline rush and the great need to survive, anyways. On the bright side, her ice powers weren't too bad. Tony had watched her as she hilariously attempted anything she could think she could do with her powers, actually. She managed to create a rose-shaped ice model in hand from just thinking about it, and she managed to create more ice blades in thin air, as well as making an ice shield. She eventually felt drained after that, but was pretty pleased nonetheless.

Tony sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Because, I don't want you to get hurt. This is a lot more dangerous than you think it is."

Carla frowned, "I get that. But I really want to be there if the worst happens."

Natasha decided to make her entrance, "C'mon, Stark. Let the girl come along, I'm sure she can handle herself."

Tony gave them both a long, apprehensive look before rolling his eyes, "Fine. But Carla still stays on the quinjet."

They both grinned. Tony left the room to prepare the quinjet. Natasha gave Carla a mischievous look, smirking. The teen rose an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Suit up before we take off," she answered.

* * *

**Things are now definitely getting into full swing. Next chapter shall finally conclude **_**Age of Ultron. **_

**Review: What do you guys think so far? Any new predictions? Any accurate or inaccurate predictions? Or really anything else that I haven't asked about yet? **

**Love, Navi**


	5. Phone Home

A skin-tight black suit clung to Carla's body, leaving little to the imagination. A hood hung off her shoulders, silver accents lining the hem. Now that she took another look at her outfit, a lot of silver lined the hems of her suit. She also wore her black athletic shoes and fingerless gloves, completing the attire.

The fabric felt durable but breathable, which was a good thing considering she didn't want to get too hot and sweaty in the suit. Although, she did feel kind of naked since it almost felt like nothing when she put it on. Carla's face flushed pink, realizing that she did look a bit provocative with her curves being accentuated in the outfit.

She put up her red hair into a high ponytail with an elastic that she wore on her wrist as she followed Natasha to the quinjet on the helipad upstairs.

Natasha smirked, "Well, aren't you Avenger-ready?"

Carla snorted, "Funny joke."

"I wasn't joking. You're more capable than you realize," she responded.

Carla chose to ignore the comment. The last thing that she ever was, was an _Avenger._ Avengers were heroes who were selfless and did everything for the good of humanity. Carla was a teenager who was only concerned with her family's future and didn't care too much about helping humanity. Sure, if there was someone in trouble and she was right there to stop it, she wasn't so cruel as to let them suffer right in front of her. She just wasn't interested in actively searching out to help those in need. That was the difference.

She's not a hero and she never will be. Heroes eventually die off. Her mother was a hero in Carla's eyes, always concerned with helping others no matter what. Her mother often volunteered at homeless shelters in her free time. And just like heroes do, her mother perished trying to protect her daughter by sacrificing herself.

They entered the quinjet on the roof, Carla taking a seat on the bench. Tony scrutinized his niece's outfit.

He frowned, "Where'd you get that outfit?"

Carla sheepishly smiled, glancing over at Natasha. The spy smiled innocently as Tony gave her an exasperated look. Thor grinned at the mechanic.

"I think Lady Carla looks very capable in her attire," the Asgardian commented.

"Thanks," Carla grinned. Her smile slightly dropped as she bit her lip, "I think Asgardian armour looks really cool, though."

Which was true, as she remembered Sif's attire and the outfits the Warrior's Three had were fascinating. And the _capes_. She was a little jealous that she couldn't really wear a cape if she wanted to without looking too outlandish and weird.

Thor gave her a confused look, "You've only ever seen my attire, so how would you know that?"

Her eyes widened, realizing her slip up. She nervously laughed, hoping to seem genuine, "That's what I meant… Your armour looks cool."

The God of Thunder nodded, grasping her explanation. When he became distracted by talking to Bruce, she let out a small sigh of relief.

She watched as Natasha and Clint took the wheel, directing the quinjet as they took off into the sky.

* * *

Hours later, they landed in a hot, dry, and grassy field in the outskirts of Johannesburg. All but Bruce and Carla exited the quinjet before Tony gave her a serious look.

"You wait here, and if anything happens, you call me right away. Got it?"

His niece nodded in response. They left soon after, leaving the two to hang out in the jet.

Bruce sighed, "You know, sometimes I wish I could control the big guy so I could be a better help."

Carla shrugged, "You're already a big help. I mean, besides me and Tony you're the only one who's a nerd in the science department." She crossed her arms as she leaned her head back on the interior wall, "Plus, Tony and I are more like mechanics and technicians. You have capabilities that we don't have."

He smiled in gratitude, "Thanks."

She smiled, "Now we get to wait in boredom as the others do the fun stuff."

They talked about random subjects to waste time as they waited for the others to return. Meanwhile, Carla nervously looked outside the jet to catch sight of the twins. It wasn't until a couple hours later that it was Bruce who first noticed them out in the distance.

Bruce furrowed his eyebrows, "There's a couple of kids over there."

The teen snapped her head towards where he pointed, eyes locking with a man and woman. She groaned.

The man grabbed his sister around her waist. Carla immediately turned to Bruce, kicking him away into the front of the jet. He crashed into the chair, giving the teen a confused look. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he passed out.

She winced, "Sorry, but I can't risk the Hulk coming out."

Before he could respond, she immediately raised her hands, blocking him off with a thick wall of ice. Her arms were now colored a dark blue again. She suddenly felt a kick to her back as she was sent crashing into the side of the jet. She rolled over onto her knee, not even waiting to see where they stood as she flicked her hand and sent several daggers of ice out in front of her.

Pietro grabbed his sister, dodging most of the daggers. One nicked his cheek, a small line of blood trailing down his face. Carla grimaced as they both stared down one another.

Wanda looked at the girl in surprise, "Who are you?"

She scowled, "None of your business. And," She raised her hand to wipe the blood from her nose, "You're both idiots for helping Ultron."

Wanda frowned, face flushed red, "You all think yourselves as heroes, when in reality you hurt and kill people along the way. How can you live with yourself?"

Carla rolled her eyes, "Who said I was a hero? People die every day, no matter what the Avengers do or don't do. They can't save everyone, but they try to save as many as possible." She stood up from her place on the floor, left shoulder screaming in pain. "And what you're about to do won't make you any better than your so-called enemies."

Pietro scoffed, "It will only make the world realize how demented the Avengers are."

"Fine," Carla held out her hands. "Then I have no other choice."

She immediately shot out more daggers of ice. The two disappeared from her sight. Anticipating this, she turned around and swung out her left leg, colliding with the side of Pietro's abdomen. His body easily crashed into the wall, just as she was about to apprehend the other twin, she was too late.

Wanda waved her hands beside Carla's head, red light dancing across her fingertips. Carla lowered her hands, falling to her knees on the floor. She was compromised. Wanda screamed as she fell to the floor, gasping for air.

Pietro got up from the floor, hissing in pain from his side. He quickly rushed to her aid, worry etched across his features.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded, eyes watering, "I'm fine." He turned to the wall of ice that blocked off half of the jet, including the Hulk. "We've spent too much time here, we should leave before they come back. It looks like we won't be able to get to the big guy."

Pietro nodded, watching his sister with regret as he picked her up and took off from the area.

* * *

_Carla was sitting on the couch in her old apartment. Everything was the same as she remembered it. Her mother appeared in the room from the kitchen, smiling. _

_She looked at the woman in confusion, "Mama?" _

_Her mother looked… younger. Her skin was more smooth and youthful, and her hair was cut short above her shoulders. She seemed to be in her mid-twenties. _

_Morgan smiled, "Carla, I didn't know you'd be home so soon…" Her smile widened, her head tilting, "Did you say goodbye to your father?" _

_Carla frowned, "My father?" _

_Red seeped into her mother's shirt. Morgan looked down at herself, pouting. "Awh, this is my favorite shirt."_

_The teen watched in horror, "You're… bleeding." _

_Morgan looked up from her shirt, sighing. "Why, of course I am." Her eyes widened, mouth gaping, "Oh! I left something in the car. I'll be right back!" _

_Carla blinked before her mother was gone. She got up from the couch, walking to the front door. She opened it, and walked outside. The world around her blurred, dizzying her senses. She closed her eyes, rubbing the side of her head before opening them._

_Her eyes opened, and everything was seemingly dark. She was surrounded by metal walls, similar to the quinjet but bigger. Was she on a helicarrier? A... spaceship? _

_She walked around the hallways, trying to find a way out of this place. She entered a bigger room, and she gasped. There were many dead bodies littering the floor. She didn't notice the current party in front of her. Her gaze dragged up to see Thanos, Thor, Loki… and her mother. _

_Thor had a short haircut and was trapped in metal scraps. Loki was kneeling on the floor, holding his injured side. Her mother was alongside him, tears running down her face. Thanos reached down and grabbed Morgan by the throat, lifting her up in the air in a chokehold. She choked and gasped as she struggled for air._

_Carla's heart clenched, "Stop!" _

_Thanos brought his gaze to the teen, expression full of pity. She seethed, "Let her go."_

_Thanos sighed, "Poor Carla. You have no idea of the tragedy your existence came from. Your friends and family are all dead. There's nothing left for you to do but to just sit there and take it."_

_She looked around, seeing familiar faces in the crowd of bodies. Tony, Natasha, Bruce… everyone she knew littered the floor, large bloody holes in their chests. She screamed._

_"Yes... Mourn while you can. I have no choice but to kill off the rest of your family." Thanos squeezed Morgan's neck, a loud crack resounding before he dropped her body on the floor. _

_Thor screamed through his muzzle and Loki stared at her body in disbelief. Loki stood up, materializing a blade in his left hand. Before he could attempt to slice Thanos' throat, the titan disappeared along with Thor. Carla and Loki were left alone in the room. His green eyes locked with Carla's. _

_He grimaced, "I'm sorry." _

_"For what?" She hiccuped, cheeks heated and wet with salty tears. Her body felt weird, like it was becoming numb. It felt as though pins and needles were poking at her in all directions. She looked down at herself, hands fading away into dust-like particles. Carla watched with mild amazement and horror as her body started to fade away up her torso. She looked back up at Loki, brown eyes searching for an answer. _

_"For everything." _

* * *

Her eyes shot open, the pulse from her heart pumping rapidly. Tears ran down her face as horror and confusion took hold of her thoughts.

"Carla?"

She looked around, realizing she was on the floor of the jet. Clint was at the front directing the flying quinjet. She noticed that they had taken down her ice wall, but wasn't too surprised considering their abilities. Tony was crouched above her on the floor, stress and concern reflected in his expression. She took deep breaths, calming down her heart rate.

Carla sighed, "What happened?"

Tony winced, "Same as you."

The dream, or vision, whatever it was… was weird. Thanos was her biggest fear and target so it would be natural that he would be in that nightmare, but he seemed to _know _her in that vision. It also didn't make sense to her that Loki was there, too. He was in immense anguish and regret, something she never really knew him to be. Maybe… he knew something that she didn't know. After all, he knows Thanos, and maybe Thanos knew about her mother and father. Why else would she have such a strange vision? Or Carla really could've just been overthinking things and Loki was really just apologizing for the attack on New York.

She looked to Bruce who sat on the bench across from her. "Sorry about earlier..."

He shrugged, "It's fine. You've got one hell of a kick, though."

"How long was I out?" Carla asked as she moved herself up into a sitting position against the bench.

"A couple of hours," Tony answered. "You had a concussion. Bruce explained what happened before he got knocked out. Wanna tell us what happened?"

Carla frowned, "The Maximoff twins came, as Bruce already might've told you. I'm positive Wanda was intending to unleash the Hulk with her abilities. I blocked them off from him and tried my best to defend myself, until they were able to compromise me."

Tony sighed, "Smart move, considering the circumstances. At least you seem fine... We're hiding out for now from Ultron to recover."

Carla nodded, getting up from the floor and seating herself on the bench. A dull pain went through her shoulder, indicating that it had already started to heal. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She could've sworn that she at least fractured her shoulder… now it felt like a minor injury. Perhaps ice powers included healing capabilities?

At this point, she wasn't very much surprised. The world was already so crazy that she didn't think there was anything that could top what she's already been through.

The quinjet soon landed on a grassy, rural field not far from a large farmhouse. Carla already had figured it was Clint's home. They left the quinjet and followed Clint down the hill as they took in their surroundings. The weather was warm, yet cloudy as the group made their way into the front door of the house.

They made a right into the living room, where Clint called out in the house, "Honey, I'm home." A woman with a very swollen stomach appeared from the kitchen, surprised.

"Hi. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead," the archer explained, walking to meet his wife to embrace her.

"Hey," she greeted, giving him a peck on the lips.

Tony looked at the couple with disbelief, turning to Thor, "This is an agent of some kind."

Clint brought his attention back to the group, "Gentleman, this is Laura."

She smiled, awkwardly staring at the group, "I know all your names."

Hurried footsteps resounded from the stairs, two children running into the room to greet their father, "Ooh, incoming."

Clint quickly picked up his daughter as she exclaimed, "Dad!"

"I see her!" He hugged his son, kissing the top of his head, "Hey, buddy! How you guys doing? Ooh…"

Everyone watched with surprise, while Carla and Natasha took in the scene with amusement. Tony spoke, "These are… smaller agents."

"Look at your face! Oh, my goodness!" He set her back down onto the floor.

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" his daughter questioned.

Natasha walked to them from her spot, grinning, "Why don't you hug her and find out?"

The young girl rushed into Natasha's arms before the woman picked her up. "Sorry for barging in on you," Steve apologized to the couple.

"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed," Tony added on.

Clint brushed it off, "Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low."

As Natasha went to talk to Laura, Thor accidentally stepped on some legos. Steve watched as he awkwardly shoved them away with his shoe. Clint's daughter walked up to Thor, staring up at him curiously. Distress went across Thor's features before he left the room, heading right out the front door. Carla watched as Steve followed, probably confused about the Asgardian's odd behavior.

Tony looked back to Carla, "What was that about?"

"Who knows?" She innocently retorted.

After settling in and conversing with each other, Laura had set Tony and Steve to work on chopping logs. The others went on their way to settle into their rooms and while Carla was the odd one out, she chose to just spend the night on the couch.

She was watching TV when Clint's daughter came downstairs from her bedroom, curious to meet the teenager. The little girl looked up at her as Carla gave her a pleasant smile.

The girl smiled shyly, "Hi. I'm Lila."

"That's a pretty name. I'm Carla," she held out her hand in greeting.

Lila awkwardly shook her hand before retracting it back to nervously play with her hair, "Thank you… Do you wanna pick flowers with me?"

She looked at the young girl in surprise, "Sure. Let's go ask your mother, first."

Carla got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen, Lila trailing close behind her. Laura was currently washing dishes, scrubbing a plate with a sponge in the sink. Laura looked over her shoulder and made eye contact with Carla, smiling.

"I think Clint mentioned your name before, but I can't really remember it. I didn't know you were an Avenger," she said.

The teen laughed, "I'm not an Avenger, but to be fair I do have some cool abilities and stuff. My name's Carla."

Laura rose an eyebrow, "Well, you sure look like a part of the team... You're Mr. Stark's niece, right?"

"Yeah," she affirmed. "Anyways, I was wondering if I could take Lila out to go flower picking. She seems just as bored as I am, actually," she joked.

Laura grinned, gaze drifting to her daughter, "Alright. Make sure you stay close to Carla, and thank her for taking you, okay?"

The young girl nodded. Carla grinned, taking Lila's hand. "Then we'll be off. I'll bring her back before dark."

The mother nodded before Carla took Lila out of the house. They walked through the grass and up the hill, where they sat and found a small area full of colorful flowers. They spent their time picking the best ones and making flower crowns and bracelets.

Lila smiled, "I wanna make one for Auntie Nat! Do you think she'll like it?"

An image of the typical, fierce Black Widow with a flower crown was a little amusing in Carla's mind. She nodded, "Definitely. In fact, let's make flower crowns for everyone."

The girl enthusiastically nodded, grabbing another pink peony to loop and tie into her workpiece. They spent about an hour making crowns, finished and satisfied with their goal. Lila and Carla donned matching crowns made with white peonies on their heads. They weren't too far from the house, and they only had about twenty minutes until sundown.

"Hey, you wanna see something cool?" Carla asked, an idea coming to mind.

Lila nodded, curious. Carla held out her hands, cupping them together. The skin on her hands and arms turned blue as Lila watched with awe. The teenager simply thought about what she wanted in her head, and a rose made of ice materialized in her hands.

She pinched the stem of the rose between her fingers and held it out to Lila, "Here. It'll melt soon, but I can always make more."

Lila accepted the rose, staring at it with a mixture of admiration and shock. She blinked up at the older girl, furrowing her eyebrows, "Are you like Elsa?"

Carla chuckled, taking it as a compliment from the young girl. "Something like that."

They gathered up the flower crowns before heading back to the farmhouse. The walk took about five or so minutes until they passed the front door. Carla was expecting to see a certain SHIELD director around somewhere, so she had made some extra flower crowns for good measure. They entered the living room and saw many of which spread out in the living room and kitchen. The team looked at Carla and Lila in surprise as they had hands full of flower crowns.

Lila grinned, running up to her father before handing him a white crown, "Dad! Look what I made you!" She then showed him the rose-shaped ice figure, "Carla made this for me, too!"

Clint enthusiastically accepted the crown and placed it on his head, "That's nice, Lila! How do I look?"

"Like a true princess," Tony commented.

Carla smirked, "Well, we made enough for everyone, so you better appreciate them."

Her uncle gave the teen a look of disdain. Carla playfully stuck out her tongue in response. She gave the rest of the crowns for Lila to pass out to everyone, who all accepted with gratitude towards the young Barton. Carla looked around the room to notice Nick Fury, wearing his iconic eyepatch, was scrutinizing the scene with slight amusement.

Until Lila went up to him and handed him a pink flower crown, fully expecting him to wear it. The bemused party watched as the rigid man placed the crown on his head, albeit begrudgingly. Carla donned a shit-eating grin. The sight before her was pretty hilarious.

He sighed, serving himself a drink, "Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked.

"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though," explained Fury, taking a sip from his glass.

Tony and Carla took turns throwing darts. He handed the darts back to Carla, "He still going after launch codes?"

Carla's first dart hit the board dead-center. Fury replied, "Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway."

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare," Tony commented. Carla rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that," he retorted.

Steve had a puzzled look, "NEXUS?"

Tony tossed the next dart which hit the edge of the board. The teen gave him a smug look. "It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth," Bruce clarified.

"So what'd they say?" Clint asked.

Fury said, "He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed."

Carla tossed another dart that joined her first one in the center. Tony sighed and plucked them off the board. "By whom?"

Clint sent a dart dead-center in front of Tony's face. Tony frowned at him, to which the archer simply shrugged. "Parties unknown."

"Do we have an ally?" asked Natasha, who was seated on the dining table.

"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is," said Fury.

Tony walked into the room from the dartboard, "I might need to visit Oslo, find our 'unknown.'"

"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that," the spy responded sarcastically.

"I do, I have you," he defended. Carla walked in after putting away the darts, leaning against the wall. "Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard," Fury seated himself at the edge of the table.

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," joked Natasha.

Steve gave her a dry look, "You know what, Romanoff?" The woman responded with a mischievous smile. Carla smirked, understanding the reference.

"So what does he want?" questioned Fury.

"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies," Steve responded.

Tony added on, "Person bodies. The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," Natasha commented.

Bruce held a pondering look, holding his hand to his mouth. "They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" asked Fury.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" asked Bruce.

An epiphany kicked in amongst the group at his question. Carla groaned, "He plans to create a new body."

Everyone immediately set to work on preparing to leave. Fury took Carla and Tony aside, face serious. "While I leave Dr. Banner and Carla off at the tower, you better be knowing what you're doing, Stark."

Carla sighed in disappointment before crossing her arms, "I guess the drama's over for me, then." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Don't be _too_ disheartened."

* * *

A couple hours later in the quinjet, Fury dropped Carla and Bruce at the tower. The two geniuses anxiously waited around the laboratory. Carla absentmindedly pulled at her hair as she watched Bruce set up the lab equipment for the artificial vessel to destroy. She bottled up her emotions so that she wouldn't worry and distract Bruce from his tasks.

Tony arrived shortly after. He probably used his suit, which she assumed since it was a faster way of air transport. Bruce gave him a brief "Hello" before going back to setting some program on the computer. Carla gave the mechanic a small smile that didn't entirely reach her eyes. Her eyes started to water while she opened her mouth and yawned, the lack of sleep now dawning on her.

Tony looked over his niece worriedly, "Why don't you go rest? You certainly need it."

"Alright. No complaints there," she readily agreed. "Wake me up if anything happens." Tony simply nodded in response. She got up from her seat at the lab table, heading for the stairs.

* * *

**Hey guys, sorry for the abrupt cliffhanger. This was sitting in my docs because I was planning to write like 7k-10k words or so, but decided to go ahead and update this today. It's been a long break as I've been busy with a lot of things senior year, until this last Friday when my school was shut down for two weeks due to the coronavirus. It's been updated again today for school to be closed until April 17th. With the current situation, schools are probably not going to be open until the summer. **

**With that said, things I was looking forward to (my animal hospital internship, FFA state convention, prom, gradnite, maybe graduation, etc.) are more than likely cancelled/postponed. **

**I'm hella depressed lmao. During these times I'm going to eat way too many quarantine snacks, playing games, sleeping, and probably writing fanfiction since I have nothing better to do lol. **

**Stay safe and healthy, **

**Navi.**


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